Council Of Churches Blasts Columbus Landing

June 21, 1990|The New York Times

Resolutions galore come out of the annual church meetings. One of this spring's most provocative came from the governing board of the National Council of Churches, meeting last month in Pittsburgh, concerning the 500th anniversary of the landing of Columbus in the New World.

Commemorative activities, including a regatta of tall ships to New York and Boston, are being planned nationwide by the Christopher Columbus Quincentenary Jubilee Commission, which was created by Congress.

The national council, the most liberal of the major church organizations, interjected a large note of caution.

"A celebration is not an appropriate observation of this anniversary," the resolution read. Instead, it called for "reflection and repentence" for crimes committed against native inhabitants of America and against Africans brought here against their will as slaves.

The aftermath of Columbus' "discovery," the resolution says, brought "invasion, genocide, slavery, `ecocide' and the exploitation of the wealth of the land."

The resolution also acknowledges Christianity's role: "The church, with few exceptions, accompanied and legitimized this conquest and exploitation.

" Therefore, it is appropriate for the church to reflect on its role in that historical tragedy, to repent of its complicity and, in pursuing a healing process, to move forward in our witness for justice and peace."